Chakram
by Mister Mime
19th May 2021
Chakram is an artist who sculpts the minutest of details into his art while always keeping the focus on the bigger picture. As evident in this audiovisual offering, “When Planets Mate”, is the culmination of a parallel process of self-discovery for the artist. By channelling his understanding of the circular nature of this material existence through Indian mythology, he makes a glorious effort to portray his own heritage and the ancient wisdom of the cosmos through a modern technological lens. While paying due homage to their vast influences, Chakram and his collaborators ensure that the seemingly contrary worlds of science and spirituality converge effortlessly. Upon diving into this masterpiece, the viewer is assured of a holistic and reverent experience.
MM: Who/what is Chakram? Can you tell us why you chose this name for your project?
Chakram: I’ve always been fascinated by circles, but the name really clicked when I realized I even thought of my rhythms as circular. I’m obsessed with swing and I try to push grooves to the point where they visualize into circles in my imagination. I also am fascinated by the mythological Sudarshana Chakra, literally translated as ‘disk of auspicious vision,’ which is Vishnu’s weapon in the Mahabharata and Ramayana. I believe that creativity is our reality’s manifestation of this divine weapon of knowledge because art allows us to explore the vast universe of our imaginations for answers that life experience can’t always teach.
MM: Can you explain the broader concept(s) behind “When Planets Mate” and what made you want to create such a piece?
Chakram: I was trying to find my place amongst my passions of directing, acting, writing, electronic music and cinema. This piece was a result of me trying a lot of different things and trying to listen to how all these creative endeavours converged into a singular/interdisciplinary artistic philosophy. At the heart of my creative practice is my spiritual practice. I’m a Nichiren Buddhist, which is a chanting practice, and the vibrational relationship between intent and vocalisation really taught me how physics and spirituality are far more kindred than foe. As the wall between science and spirituality began to melt for me, I began to work on When Planets Mate, which is a thesis on creation and destruction - both at the macro-level of mythology and universe and the micro-level of life at the crossroads of science, spirituality and identity. The metaphysical world and the physical world parallel each other in a lot of magical and mysterious ways, and I want to explore whatever unknowns are left out there.
MM: Tell us about the story and symbolism in the video and how it augments the music (or vice versa)? Were the creation process for the audio & the video simultaneous or did one precede the other?
Chakram: In terms of process, I first wrote and produced all the music, collaborating with vocalists and jazz instrumentalists. After the music, I devised the holistic concept that framed the scientific trajectory of the universe within Hindu mythology and biology. Then, I collaborated with an animation team to establish a symbolic visual vocabulary to help tie those concepts together. Visual inspiration for the animation ranged from Moebius, Hieronymus Bosch, The Codex Seraphinianus, La Planete Sauvage, the After Man series, Hello, Robot: Design Between Human and Machines, as well as Indian comics/graphic novels that modernize mythological tales like the Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana and Mahabaratha.
The visual life of this story surprised me in so many ways, but it’s an unbelievable feeling when I talk with audiences and learn how their experiences watching the film align with my original intentions in creating it. I think of collaboration as inviting friends to an imaginary playground of ideas that I gathered in one place. These ideas can be thought of as the slides, sandboxes or swings that make up any normal playground. But even though I put those ideas there, it’s really important to me that my collaborators investigate that playground with a lot of creative freedom. They can take all the sand out of the box, flip the slides upside down, whatever, and in this way, they can explore new possibilities. My original ideas began to really blossom when they were grated through the filter of Riley Thompson and Joel Orloff’s perspectives, experiences and imaginations. Big ups to them always for helping me make this dream come true.
MM: I am particularly intrigued by "the metaphysical death and spiritual resurrection of South Asian identity in a post-colonial, Western world” part of it, as you described it and how you choose to interpret and express it in this piece. Can you elaborate on that? Also, how do you see the wisdom of Hindu mythology and other ancient knowledge that Indian culture has possessed for thousands of years to be relatable and understood in today’s context?
Chakram: I grew up ignoring where I came from, but then I discovered that was the most important thing about me, so at the heart of this short film is the immigrant experience. When I began to make this film, I was really starting to lean into my Indian heritage, something I had never done growing up because I wanted to fit into the American culture that surrounded me. I felt in a lot of ways that I had to destroy aspects of who I was in order to really embrace and begin to properly listen to my roots and ancestry. I had to let go of a lot of things that I was told to value by the external world of America to really dig into what I internally valued and wanted to build. There’s a universe in us all, and my first toe-dip in exploring the sea of my own identity was “When Planets Mate”.
I was always confused about the current state of Indo-American culture growing up, especially when I looked back through some history books we had in the house. I certainly do not claim any expertise here, but there seemed to be this vast world of beautiful imagination and stories and heritage that didn’t make it across the ocean to the US. All I saw around me were doctors, lawyers, businessmen, but in these books I saw this incredible history of architecture, art, expression, and spiritual knowledge of the world that we don’t fully understand even to this date. The Upanishads and Vedas often talk about the materials or matter of this world in a particulate vocabulary, meaning that there was an ethereal understanding of atomic processes that were dreamed into without advanced scientific equipment.
Chakram: I really believe that spirituality is integrated at the deepest level of Asian cultures, and linguistics has a lot of evidence to show that Asiatic and African languages have larger vocabularies to describe the metaphysical and spiritual dimensions relative to western language families. I feel like this spiritual sentiment was heavily suppressed in colonial times, when western sentiments ossified into Indian culture by saturating education systems. Fast forward to the mid 20th century, when immigration to the US from India was granted to holders of advanced degrees.
In the community I grew up in, which was highly educated, the expressive and free spirituality I saw in Indian history books seemed absent. In its place there existed a more rigid social structure that valued status and material gain. I’m on a quest to try and reclaim a piece of that spiritual pie to ultimately seek liberation in developing my own identity after deconstructing it the past few years. Ultimately, I want to be able to build my identity inside the scope of my genetics and heritage rather than my visual and symbolic presence amongst western society and ideals. Tokenism took years to shed and I’m excited to put the pieces back together on my own terms.
MM: How do you perceive the parallels or relation between the phenomenon of the existence of the universe itself at a macro scale, and the busy microcosm of ‘modern' everyday life?
Chakram: It’s really a choice to see everything as connected because there’s still a lot of belief that has to go into seeing that framework despite all the scientific advancements we have achieved. To be honest, I’m not even sure if understanding that framework is possible simply through accumulating intelligence or information - I believe it will require a fundamental new evolution in humanity’s development of intuition, which is the mind, body and soul all working in harmony rather than as compartmentalized aspects of what makes us whole. Belief and creativity are the most foundational cultural resources we have as humans, and I think if we extend technology’s potential beyond economic efficiency, we can achieve an enlightened perspective of the cosmic parallels of the universe and life. At the end of the day, questions are more important than answers!
MM: What’s your take on the concept of ‘genres’ in music?
Chakram: As many of the disparate technologies that defined certain genres converge into a singular instrument, DAWs, we’re at a point where I almost think of genres as ingredients of a singular global sonic cuisine, and I’m the kind of guy who likes egg-whites in my cocktails and crickets in my chocolate haha - not really on the latter, but somebody’s gotta do it! So whenever someone is trying to cook up something new, I doubt they are thinking ‘oh this needs a pinch of IDM’ or a spritz of ‘D&B or Half-Time’ haha. I think we’re all more so trying to filter all of our loves and inspirations into something personally visceral. There’s so much amazing and varied stuff out there that’s at our fingertips, and that creates an international music community with a lot of room for experimenting and innovation. I don’t think a lot of it is intentional, but that is one of the most beautiful things about creating today - we have so much equipment that supports the creation and capture of happy accidents. But sometimes it is a lot of fun to throw some spaghetti at the wall and see what ‘Trap’ and ‘Ambient’ styles have to say to each other.
MM: Who are some artists that you are really into this year?
Chakram: Mono/Poly, Flying Lotus, Madlib, Thundercat, Lapalux, ALYSS, Liv.e, Salami Rose Joe Louis, Ravyn Lanae, Sudan Archives, Low Leaf, Daisuke Tanabe, Johann Johannson, Alice Coltrane, Brandee Younger, Jonny Greenwood, Heliocentrics, Stereolab, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Nick Hakim, Broadcast, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Kikagaku Moyo, Lapalux, Eddie Kendricks, Ravel, Debussy, Bobbi Humphrey, Busdriver, Mick Jenkins, David Axelrod, Pharoah Sanders, Thom Yorke, Shades, Rejoicer, Yussef Dayes, Chee, Dimlite, Erykah Badu, Jameszoo, Kelly Moran, Teebs, Shigeto, Amon Tobin, BBNG, Johnny Hammond Smith, Stefano Torossi, Dorothy Ashby, Sven Kacirek, Tanerelle, Ivy Lab, Little Snake, Tsuruda, Drumetrics, Adrian Younge, Andy Stott, Bill Evans, Bobby McFerrin, Daedalus, Cymande, Jack DeJohnette, Kamaal Williams, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Knxwledge, Lost Twin, Makaya McCraven, Melanie Charles, Kafari, Mike Gao, Mndsgn, Pink Siifu, Portishead - tons more stuff too - it’s hard to keep up with all the great old and new stuff out there.
MM: Do you have any advice for up and coming producers to express themselves as genuinely as possible through (audio-visual) art?
Chakram: Our minds are capable of inventing expansive and unique universes when we devote ourselves to creativity. Creativity is humanity’s superpower and in making any kind of art we should see ourselves as the Green Lantern. We are all capable of making the impossible a little less daunting. All creators are sculptors, so everything we need is in the concrete block with which we start. Our duty as creatives is to slowly chisel away at this block until the secret sculpture inside reveals itself.
The most important currency in the world is time, and creativity is its magical ingredient. Gift your ideas with time and attention and they will pay you back tenfold.
The art world seems like a rat race because millions are using the same strategies to achieve the same goals. Be bold, different and daring. Cool shit is what people aren’t doing. Try to get the attention of ten people you admire versus a million people whose opinion doesn’t matter to you.
Follow Chakram on:
https://madebychakram.bandcamp.com/album/when-planets-matehttps://www.instagram.com/madebychakram/
All Images Courtesy Of Chakram
